‘Nagas’ puts Guyana in final

Playing at the Stanford Cricket Ground, the Guyanese restricted the “Spice Boys” to 158 for eight in their 20 overs and then powered to 160 for four off 18.2 overs, to win with ten balls to spare.

They now await the winner of yesterday’s other semi-final between Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago to see who will be their opponents in tomorrow’s grand final, where the winners’ prize is US$1 million.

Nagamootoo entered at the mid-way point of the innings after Grenada had racked up 86 for the first wicket, and he immediately put a halt to the free-scoring.

He ended with five wickets for 15 runs off his four overs to pocket the “Man-of-the-Match” cheque of US$25,000.

The strong start for Grenada was provided by the powerful opening pair of Andre Fletcher, who blasted 50 off just 31 balls with five fours and two sixes, and Clevron Antoine, who added 30 off just 22 balls.

Both fell to the steady off-spin of Narsingh Deonarine in the space of balls and the innings suddenly lost momentum.

Then in stepped Nagamootoo, a clever leg-spinner who has taken over 350 wickets in regional cricket in a career spanning 12 years.

He was simply too good for the Windward Islands as he offered little to hit and as the batsmen came after him.

His biggest wicket was that of skipper Rawl Lewis, who made 36 from 30 balls, before being caught at mid-wicket by Deonarine looking to push the score along.

After this the innings meandered, and fell about 20 runs short of the projected total.

Asked to score at eight an over, Guyana’s experienced batsmen, laid the foundation and at the end the little known Imran Khan smashed two towering sixes in his 21 from ten balls to send the estimated 3,000 Guyana fans into a frenzy.

With him at the end was Deonarine, who showed his maturity in 23 not out as the two shared an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 32.

Before this, opener Lennox Cush opened his shoulders to crack 49 from 42 balls and his massive six over extra cover earned him the “Play-of the-Match” award of US$10,000. Cush added 57 for the first wicket with Travis Dowlin (19), as they set the tone for the run chase.

Skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan fell for eight, but left-hander Esuan Crandon, banged 17 from nine balls to keep his side in the hunt on another action-filled night. (CMC)